August-September 2017

Although corporate payments is a core business for banks providing transactional services, many of them are facing more competition from alternative providers when it comes to offering innovative and faster services.

As global banks de-risk from many emerging market banks, and reduce the scale of their correspondent banking networks, local and regional banks are coming under pressure to ensure they meet global standards and operate using best practices to keep these relationships relevant.

Egypt was a crucible of the Arab Spring and is only just now beginning to re-discover its economic feet, with international investors once again interested in the country after a series of severe reforms that have sent inflation soaring to eye-watering levels

Lebanon has finally shaken off political paralysis by forming a government for the first time in more than two years, and already the country is bearing the economic fruits of a more stable political system.

Russia’s PIK Group has plans to ramp up capital markets activity in the coming years, as the firm announces a consolidation of its shareholder structure with company president Sergei Gordeev buying out two minority holders.